CEBU CITY -- Two houses were destroyed and another one was damaged during an afternoon fire in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City on Sunday.
An estimated P400,000 worth of infrastructure were destroyed when the fire broke out in three compounds owned by the Antigua family in Catalino Ouano St., Barangay Looc around 2:06 p.m.
The fire also destroyed a house rented by the owner and facilitators of a school for children with special needs.
Fire investigators have yet to verify theories the fire started when a tank of liquefied petroleum gas blew up or when a cellular phone charger short-circuited.
The fire was declared under Task Force Alpha after the Mandaue City Fire Department reported that one of their fire trucks was under repair.
Under this alarm level, no less than the provincial or district fire marshal is required to take charge as the ground commander. It is the sixth out of 13 fire alarm levels.
Fire departments of Lapu-Lapu City and the towns of Compostela, Liloan, and Consolacion responded to the alarm.
Volunteers from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf), the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade, along with the firefighting unit of Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City also responded.
Luckily, no one was hurt or killed.
The fire allegedly started in the compound of 80-year-old Milagros Antigua Bacluhan that five boarders reportedly occupied.
Bacluhan, in an interview Sunday, said she was attending a meeting of the city’s senior citizens when the fire occurred.
FO3 Cipriano Codilla of the Mandaue City Fire Department said it took about 24 minutes to get the fire under control.
Members of the Adam Jennie’s Christian Center for Special Children Inc. were also in shock after finding out that the house they rented from Nunila Antigua was destroyed as well.
The school’s founder, Lee Jennie, told reporters they had rented the house for seven years. The house had not only served as their office, but also as lodging for him and his facilitators.
One of the facilitators, Jenny Fernandez, said that because the fire spread so quickly, they were not able to recover items from their house.
Despite the fire, their classes in the Norkis Park will continue.
Codilla, in a separate interview, said they were only able to field one fire truck from their station after one of their trucks bogged down.
Codilla said they heard from residents nearby that the fire started after an LPG tank exploded. But other residents said a cellular phone charger of one of Bacluhan’s boarders may have caused the fire after it short-circuited.
An investigation has yet to confirm what started the blaze. (JKV/Sun.Star Cebu)
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